Simple Choices
by BarbaraKaterina
Summary: John gets angry with Mycroft when he thinks he intentionally hurt Sherlock. Mycroft is not amused, and decides to explain that the world is not always as black and white as John would like it to be. Post-ASiB.


AN: I fully admit that this was inspired by Sympathy for the Devil and Mycroft Holmes (by scifigrl47, in case someone mysteriously doesn't know). I love that story to bits, but the one part I had problems with was the one that's really critical of Mycroft, because I'm protective of him like that (I worry about him...constantly). So it inspired me to write how I imagine it would go if someone accused him of something like that...

So, I don't own this on several different levels – some of it is ACD's, some is BBC's and some is scifigrl's...

Also, Mycroft is very obviously OOC here, because he responds to the accusation at all, which I don't believe he'd actually do. There was no avoiding this, I'm afraid, so I ask you to please humour me in this.

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_You intentionally hurt Sherlock by sending him to deal with Adler. You wanted to ruin him. You wanted to show off your power, and make him seem incompetent. You knew he couldn't deal with the emotional, and so you sent him to Adler._

Mycroft let the accusation ring in the air for several minutes, allowing John Watson to bask in his righteous anger, and then said pleasantly: "It is quite charming, you know, how you seem to think that you are the one who knows Sherlock best. You may have forgotten that I am his brother. I have known him since he was born."

"Maybe, but you haven't been in much contact lately, have you? You don't know the adult Sherlock at all," his friend pointed out.

The older man almost smiled. "Your self-centeredness is rather interesting in how you are unaware of it. Sherlock had had a life before you came along, and quite a lot of it was his adult life."

"Oh, I know. But you weren't really a part of it, were you?"

Mycroft raised his eyebrows. "We weren't on pleasant terms with Sherlock, as you well know, but that doesn't mean I never saw him. I saw him quite a lot, in fact. He is not as unsociable as he likes to pretend, and he needs people around him. He needs someone to talk to. When there was no one else, he came to me. He was unpleasant and offensive, naturally, but that didn't mean I didn't know how he was doing. So don't make naive assumptions."

"If you know him so well, then you certainly should have predicted what would happen."

"You're so much like Sherlock in this respect. You, like him, believe me to be omniscient and omnipotent. Of course Sherlock makes himself the one exception, believing he cannot really be controlled by me, but everyone and everything else can. It's a younger brother thing, I believe."

John rolled his eyes. "You _have _always supported this approach."

"It does have its advantages, and anyway it is usually true. Not always, though." He paused. "Do you think this was the first time someone tried to seduce him? He's been doing this job for years, and of course women tend to try that – certain kind always does. Some men, too. He had the damsel in distress thrown at him many times also. He never fell for it, not once. He was emotionally distant enough for this, and had low enough libido. He could analyse their expressions, their behaviour, and tell what was going on. I had every indication to believe that he was best qualified to be immune to Irene Adler's charms."

"Well, he wasn't, so it goes to show you didn't know him that well after all," Dr. Watson said bitterly.

Mycroft tutted in disapproval at this faulty deduction. "No. It goes to show that I didn't know Irene Adler that well. I believe the reason for that is that she didn't either."

"Sorry?"

"Why do you think Sherlock was charmed by her so easily?" The government official asked.

"Well...she is beautiful, and he saw her naked, ..."

"No, Dr. Watson, that's yourself you're thinking about. Sherlock couldn't care less about these things. Though it did play a part – she surprised him, and that impressed him. She impressed him further by incapacitating him so boldly. But the thing that really worked, that made it all possible...was that Irene Adler is clever. Did you know she solved the case with that hiker?"

"No." John tilted his head to the side. "How do you know that?"

"Sherlock told me, on Christmas. Talked about why it would have had to be a very extraordinary situation for her to get caught, because she was so clever. Provided me with a proof." Mycroft paused. "I'm not sure you can imagine what it is like, having Sherlock's intelligence. People around you start seeming like goldfish. He learned to overcome it somehow, he learned to relate to some people, but it never entirely goes away. He values your company a lot, Dr. Watson, but he still sees you as a bit of an idiot, just as he sees everyone. And Irene Adler...well, she suddenly wasn't. Perhaps not as clever as him – but then it's hard to say, she doesn't have his training, so of course it would take her longer than him to figure it out – but clever enough. That was what made it all possible, the conditio sine qua non. And I didn't know that, because, as I've said, I believe not even she knew that."

John almost laughed. "So you just assumed it was some silly little girl who had half the world so bothered?"

"No, of course I knew she'd have to be clever, in the ordinary sense of the word. But that wouldn't have presented any danger. Sherlock met many ordinarily clever people in his life – you, Detective Inspector Lestrade, Miss Hooper, to name just a few - and it never made any difference to him because from his vintage point, they really seem almost the same as the stupidest ones. The important part was that she is exceptionally clever, and there really was no indication of that, because she hadn't had any opportunity to try it out before. Her way of getting information was so ridiculously simple – with her looks and talents in the erotic sphere – that she didn't need it. She was herself pleasantly surprised, I think, when she rose to Sherlock's challenge...and of course immediately used it to her advantage. She worked with it expertly, she played her hand like the professional she was, but if she hadn't solved the case, it would have been useless." Mycroft paused. "So I would thank you, Dr. Watson, if you could refrain from making further unbased assumptions."

"I still don't believe you. He was caught right from the start – he actually stumbled over his words! Sherlock! I believe you that many women have tried this before, but none of them was as good as Adler, were they?"

"You aren't listening, John. Of course her expert skills allowed her to take it as far as she did, but knowing that she was clever was the basis. I don't deny Sherlock was thrown off balance by her direct approach at the beginning, but he also took the phone off her and would have won that round, if she didn't have something else apart from her sex-appeal up her sleeve – or rather in her drawer. He was interested, yes, but not charmed, not yet. If she changed his text alert at that moment, he wouldn't have kept it."

John frowned. "All right," he said then, "maybe you couldn't have completely predicted this would happen. It was still a risk. Not a risk you should have taken."

"You life is so nicely simple, isn't it, Dr. Watson? No responsibilities, apart from for my brother. Not that he isn't quite a handful, but it makes life fairly straightforward. The worst dilemma you ever face is a choice between what is morally right and what Sherlock wants to do. Unpleasant to be sure, but not quite what I would call heart-wrenching." He paused. "Me, on the other hand...apart from...watching over Sherlock, I have an actual job. A job that goes with quite a lot of responsibility. Every time I decide to employ Sherlock for something, I have to weight very carefully between the benefit for the country and the danger to him. I cannot simply decide that I'm never going to put him in any danger because, Dr. Watson, that would make me very bad at my job. And Sherlock, as much as he often doesn't act like that, is actually an adult. He choose a dangerous profession. I cannot possibly shield him from all danger."

John shook his head. "He choose a profession which entailed the danger of being shot, or kidnapped, or things like that. Not one where he counted on emotional danger."

Mycroft raised an eyebrow. "He never counts on emotional danger, because he doesn't really admit to himself that he has emotions. That doesn't make my words any less true."

"Oh, I think it does," the younger man insisted. "Obviously you cannot protect him from the dangers which his profession entails, but you shouldn't actively be sending him into any other kind of danger."

"What does you country mean for you, Dr. Watson?" Mycroft asked suddenly. "Why did you join the army?"

"Well, I was dissatisfied with my life here, and I was looking for something a little different."

"I though so. In other words, any desire to serve your country simply didn't play any part."

"Well, we were in Afghanistan, I'm a little unclear on how exactly that serves my country."

"You do not join the army exclusively for Afghanistan, though, you couldn't know where they'd send you. Besides, you are a doctor. You certainly helped your country by saving its citizens' lives. That wasn't why you did it, though, was it?"

"You can't say that I am completely unpatriotic," there was a note of defensiveness in John's voice now. "I did convince Sherlock to look for the Bruce-Partington plans, you know."

"Yes, because you were well aware that them falling into the wrong hands would endanger human lives. That matters to you, I know. But you're not really a patriot."

A short silence as the ex-soldier considered, and then: "No, I don't suppose I am."

Mycroft seemed satisfied to hear the confession. "Then it is impossible for you to understand my position fully. But perhaps I can approximate: if the person who was in danger from Miss Adler was your sister, would you ask him to go in?"

Dr. Watson suddenly looked uncomfortable. The British Goverment allowed himself a small smile.

"I'd have warned him, at least!" John Watson said in the end.

"Oh, but so did I," Mycroft said pleasantly. "He choose to ignore the warning, just as I knew he would, but I did what I could."

"When did you warn him?"

"Think back over the discussion at the Palace, Doctor."

There was a long silence. "You mean that 'don't be alarmed' line? Was that supposed to be a warning?"

"Not only supposed to, it was one," Mycroft corrected.

"That absolutely doesn't count."

"Don't make the mistake of judging my communication with my brother based on yours. Sherlock understood me perfectly. You are free to ask him, if you want. Or do you think he would have preferred me to say 'be careful, little brother, you could easily fall in love'?"

Dr. Watson didn't say anything to that and left shortly afterwards. He never admitted to seeing Mycroft's point, but the big brother knew anyway.


End file.
